New Jersey motorists could soon share a road with driverless cars, and it isn’t the first time legislators have tried to bring autonomous vehicles to the Garden State.
In 2019, the state legislature passed a law creating a task force to study autonomous vehicles and establish a path toward driverless cars on New Jersey roads. That task force issued its report on March 4, 2020—the same day New Jersey confirmed its first case of COVID-19. The report was buried as the pandemic took hold, and the idea was put on the backburner.
Six years later, Trenton is trying again.
The Senate transportation committee unanimously advanced a bill on Monday that would create a three-year pilot program for driverless cars in New Jersey, along with a new task force to establish protocols around autonomous vehicle crashes, cyberattacks, liability, and pedestrian safety, according to New Jersey Monitor. Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-Middlesex), the chief sponsor of both the 2019 law and the current bill, said the timing is finally right.
“We’re talking about a transformative way to transport people and goods in the densest state in the country,” Zwicker said.
What the Bill Does
The bill is narrower and more safety-focused than its predecessor. Key provisions include:
- A three-year testing timeline, down from five years in Zwicker’s previous version
- A human driver required during the first phase of testing, with fully driverless operation allowed only after that phase is completed without incident
- Mandatory crash reporting and monthly progress updates to state transportation officials
- A ban on self-driving trucks and vehicles larger than a personal car
- Driverless cars prohibited in school zones, construction zones, and high-pedestrian areas
If passed, New Jersey would have some of the strongest autonomous vehicle safety regulations in the country, according to Shua Sanchez, national campaign director of Safe Autonomous Vehicles Everywhere in the United States, who testified in support Monday.
“Having strong safety regulations does not block technological development,” Sanchez said. “It makes sure that unsafe companies don’t have their vehicles unsupervised on the roads and don’t hurt people.”
The Pushback
All nine people who testified Monday supported the bill, but several pushed back on specific provisions. A $5 million per-vehicle insurance requirement drew criticism from the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, which argued it would inflate costs and limit participation. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce raised equity concerns about the prohibition on driverless cars in pedestrian-heavy areas—suggesting it could lock autonomous vehicles out of urban and mixed-use communities where demand would be highest.
The push comes as autonomous vehicle technology is already making inroads in New Jersey. Self-driving shuttle buses are currently being tested at Newark Liberty International Airport, where the autonomous vehicles could eventually transport passengers between terminals and the new AirTrain system.
Driverless cars on the Garden State Parkway may not be far behind.